I don't recall hearing about it before, but it's been around since DOS days ! Anyway it "appears" to be very compatable with MS & "seems" almost too good to be true, especially for free Anybody else tried it, or uses it, if so how does it compare to MS & say Kingsoft ?

..I don't recall hearing about it before, but it's been around since DOS days...

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It's been around longer than MS Office.
Free version is a truncated version of Softmaker Office.
I've been trialing their paid version and am quite impressed. I've found it MUCH faster / lighter than Libre Office. I cannot compare it to Kingsoft (which generally gets good reviews).

FreeOffice is kind of a lite version of SoftMaker Office, and IMHO the very best free office suite for Windows and Linux alike.
Compared to any other free office suite I ever tried out (OpenOffice / LibreOffice / Kingsoft Office / Google Docs), it has an unrivaled compatibility with Microsoft Office formats. It's fast, feature-packed, well coded, and has a nice user interface. I can strongly recommend it.

Btw., if you spend a few (but not many) bucks, the commercial version SoftMaker Office comes with even more functionalities, more templates, a macro language, free technical support, an Outlook alternative (only in the Pro version) and much more. It lets you not only read docx, pptx, and xlsx faithfully, but also save in these xml formats (FreeOffice opens them without any flaws, but you have to save as doc, xls, ppt).

Well, since KO is starting to be a PITA by asking internet connection everytime I open it and there's no way to turn it off unless I write a rule for it, this will be an alternative I really should try. Can we only download/install the TextMaker only? I just need the word processor.

FreeOffice is a nice suite that's very compatible with M$ Office, particularly with word documents. It does lack some key features offered in OpenOffice and LibreOffice tho. The other nite I was working on a writing sample for a presentation that required a specific word count. To my chagrin the free version does not offer that feature, and I was really missing OpenOffice or LibreOffice at the point. But if you not going to be using it in a professional capacity it should do nicely.

FreeOffice is a nice suite that's very compatible with M$ Office, particularly with word documents. It does lack some key features offered in OpenOffice and LibreOffice tho. The other nite I was working on a writing sample for a presentation that required a specific word count. To my chagrin the free version does not offer that feature, and I was really missing OpenOffice or LibreOffice at the point. But if you not going to be using it in a professional capacity it should do nicely.

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I am using the free softmaker office on Ubuntu.Actually it offers word count.You have to enable statistics and update button from the toolbars customize option.

Well, since KO is starting to be a PITA by asking internet connection everytime I open it and there's no way to turn it off unless I write a rule for it, this will be an alternative I really should try. Can we only download/install the TextMaker only? I just need the word processor.

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I was thinking about trying out Kingsoft Office 2013, but I will now pass on it.

Well, since KO is starting to be a PITA by asking internet connection everytime I open it and there's no way to turn it off unless I write a rule for it, this will be an alternative I really should try. Can we only download/install the TextMaker only? I just need the word processor.

But so far my grudge with Linux version of Softmaker Office is that it's less complete than Windows counterpart.
Their Linux version consists of:
- Textmaker
- Planmaker
- Presentations
Meanwhile their Windows version has additional:
- eM Client
- Basic maker
If Im going to pay I don't want to be treated like a 2nd class citizen. Especially that LO is free and office online is free too.